Pride Points

Highlights of leadership in healthcare

Cleveland Clinic is the No. 2 hospital in the United States (U.S.News & World Report, 2020-21).

We are #1 in the nation in Heart Surgery and Cardiology (U.S.News & World Report, 2020-21).

Cleveland Clinic Children’s is ranked in 10 of 10 specialties by U.S.News & World Report, 2020-21.

We treat more and sicker patients than almost any other medical center in America (CMS case-mix index).

We are home to the world’s largest heart valve program and vascular surgery program; Ohio’s largest cancer practice; and the world’s largest and most specialized urology practice.

We are Ohio’s largest private employer and the largest generator of economic activity in the state at $ 17.8 billion a year.

In 2009, President Barack Obama singled out the Cleveland Clinic as a national model of quality and efficiency of care. “They’ve set up a system where patient care is the No. 1 concern, not bureaucracy,” he said. “Those are changes that I think the American people want to see.”

Among our long list of achievements, we were the first in the world to:

  • Perform a coronary artery bypass
  • Perform a laryngectomy
  • Create a dosimeter to measure exposure to radiation
  • Develop a successful experimental artificial heart
  • Identify and test for carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Create a hospital artificial organs program
  • Perform minimally invasive aortic valve surgery
  • Perform the first successful larynx transplant
  • Perform the first nearly full face transplant
  • First liver transplant planned using 3D model
  • Discovery of microflora link to cardiovascular disease and development of laboratory assay for risk.
 Our many medical breakthroughs include:

  • Pioneering neurosurgery techniques
  • Pioneering gastroendoscopy
  • Early hypertension research
  • Isolation and naming of serotonin
  • Pioneering stopped-heart surgery
  • Development of coronary angiography
  • Pioneering cadaver kidney transplant series
  • Development of extracorporeal surgery
  • Early heart transplant experience
  • Development of innovative annuloplasty device
  • Identification of the gene for Cowden syndrome
  • Leadership of key multi-center clinical trials of cholesterol-lowering drugs
  • First American trans-catheter valve replacement.
  • Pioneering disease diagnosis through breath analysis Advanced endovascular stent graft design allowing expanded use of minimally invasive alternative to surgery for aortic aneurysms (2009)
  • Development of apps to provide portable and objective assessment of concussion and multiple sclerosis (2013)
  • Creation of a web-based tool to assess individual risk for heritable and genetic disease (2013)